The big dog has finally weighed in.

Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone last month.

In an open letter on the company's Web site, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said his company would wholeheartedly support selling unrestricted digital music if the major labels would allow it, a move that answers possibly the biggest question facing the music industry.

"Convincing [the labels] to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace," Jobs wrote in his nearly 2,000-word letter. "Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly."

The issue of DRM, or digital rights management, has dominated discussion among industry insiders for years. DRM is copy-protection technology placed on all music downloaded from major, legal music services, such as iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, and Zune.

Each of those stores have their own proprietary DRMs, meaning that music bought on iTunes won't play on anything but an iPod, and that music bought on non-iTunes stores won't play on an iPod.

Widespread opposition to DRM has bubbled up in recent months, with digital retailers, label honchos, and several European governments criticizing the lack of interoperability among the major players.

Apple in particular has faced criticism in Europe, with several governments banding together to demand that Apple open up its FairPlay DRM.

"Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries," Jobs wrote. "Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies toward persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free. For Europeans, two and a half of the big four music companies are located right in their backyard...Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly."

Jobs based his argument in favor of selling unrestricted music on the fact that 90 percent of the music sold comes on CDs in unrestricted files that can be ripped onto a computer or MP3 player, such as an iPod, and that limiting the remaining 10 percent sold through digital retailers makes no sense.

"Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it?" Jobs wrote. "The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy."